Author
Topic: Why is laundry-lint always blue? (Read 6224 times)

Dolphin-Byrnes

Why is it that no matter what colour the laundry (and I mean even white!) the fluff that is collected in the filter system of the washing-machine (I have two different brands in use) is always but always lilac/purple/grey in colour?

If you mix all colours equally the result is black. If you mix black with white the result is grey.If you looked at the lint, (washing machine or navel), through a microscope I suspect it would contain strands of many colours mixed with white giving the typical grey appearance.

There may be a colour bias if your clothing/washing does not contain equal amounts of all colours ...

Quote

Graham Barker of Perth, Western Australia, is in the Guinness Book of Records as the record holder for collecting navel lint. He has been collecting navel lint almost every day for over 20 years since 17 January 1984. He collects about 3.03 mg per day. Contrary to the research of Dr. Kruszelnicki, his lint was in a particular shade of red for six years and then turned green, correlating with a change of his bath towels from red to green.

The Naked Scientists® and Naked Science® are registered trademarks.
Information presented on this website is the opinion of the individual contributors
and does not reflect the general views of the administrators, editors, moderators,
sponsors, Cambridge University or the public at large.